www.usacurl.org * Twitter: @terry_usacurl & @USCurlingTrials Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 2

The Daily Pebble

Follow USA Curling on Facebook and Twitter (@terry_usacurl) Tweeting about this event?

Use #OlympicTrials or #RoadtoSochi

Extra ends trending By Terry L. Kolesar, Editor

(FARGO, N.D.) – The first round of women’s competi-

tion at the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling

featured a rare 12th end played to determine the out-

come of the match between Olympians Allison Pot-

tinger and Cassie Potter Monday night at Scheels

Arena.

2010 Olympian Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.) had a

shot for the win in the first extra end but her stone

rolled out after she completed the takeout of Potter’s

rock. In the 12th end, Pottinger drew through a port

with her first stone to remove the Potter rock behind

the guard in the four-foot. When Potter tried to dupli-

cate that shot, her final stone wrecked on the guard

and Pottinger and her team of Nicole Joraanstad

(Verona, Wis.), Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.),

Tabitha Peterson (Eagan, Minn.) earned the opening

round win.

“It’s always nice to get that first win in a long event

like this,” Joraanstad said. “Obviously maybe not do it

in 12 ends, but we’ll do it anyway. Win close or win

big, it doesn’t matter as long as you win. I think our

game strategy and execution was solid. And I think we

can build on it with each and every game as we go

through the event.”

Pottinger’s team had a comfortable 5-2 lead early until

a miss in the seventh end when Pottinger flashed a

takeout left Potter with an open draw for four points to

take a 6-5 lead. The Pottinger rink quickly answered

with three points to regain the lead. Potter made a

perfect tapback in the final end of regulation to score

two and force the extra end.

In the other women’s game last night, Erika Brown’s

team piled on the offense to defeat the Courtney

George rink, 10-3.

“We’ve been here for a few days waiting and waiting

to get on the ice so it was just a relief, quite frankly, to

get on the ice and start playing and to get off to a

great start like that is really ideal. Everyone played

really well and it’s a good way to start,” Brown said.

In the fourth round of men’s competition, Pete Fen-

son’s team got back in the win column by earning an

extra-end victory over Heath McCormick, 6-5.

“All we want to do is be able to have an open four-foot

for the last shot to draw,” said Shawn Rojeski, vice

skip for Team Fenson. “Whatever we have to do to

make the four-foot open for Pete on his last shot,

that’s all we’re looking for there. Nicely enough on that

one we made a great shot on Pete’s first one.”

The win improved Team Fenson to 2-1 in the stand-

ings, good enough for second place for the moment.

“It’s a long, grueling week. We doubted anybody

would go through undefeated so we not only thought

we’re going to have to play good but we’re going to

have to get a little bit lucky somewhere along the

way,” Rojeski said. “Whether it’s a couple of shots,

whether it’s an extra end win, whatever it is you’re

going to have to get a little bit of luck to make it

through the week.”

Two-time Olympian John Shuster (Duluth, Minn.) con-

tinued his winning ways with an 8-5 victory over fellow

Duluth Curling Club member Tyler George, 8-5. The

win improved Shuster and teammates Jeff Isaacson

(Gilbert, Minn.), Jared Zezel (Duluth, Minn.), and John

Landsteiner (Duluth, Minn.) to 3-0 in the first round

robin. The loss drops the George rink to 2-2.

TK’s two-day weather outlook for Fargo, N.D.:

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, 48 (high), 31 (low). Translation: Is this balmy?

Thursday: Chance for snow, 40 (high), 27 (low). Translation: Get your sled ready.

Monday’s Results:

Draw #3:

T. George 8, Clark 3

Shuster 6, McCormick 5

(extra end)

Draw #4:

Pottinger 9, Potter 8

(two extra ends)

Brown 10, C. George 3

Shuster 8, T. George 5

Fenson 6, McCormick 5

(extra end)

STANDINGS:

MEN:

John Shuster 3-0

Pete Fenson 2-1

Tyler George 2-2

Heath McCormick 1-2

Brady Clark 0-3

WOMEN:

Erika Brown 1-0

Allison Pottinger 1-0

Cassie Potter 0-1

Courtney George 0-1

Want to go to the Olympic Games?

CURLING FANS…WANT TO WATCH CURLING IN SOCHI AT THE 2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES?

ENTER USA CURLING’S CONTEST FOR A DREAM TRIP GIVEAWAY. GO TO WWW.USACURL.ORG

AND CLICK ON THE “SWEEP TO SOCHI TEAM CAPTAIN CAMPAIGN” BUTTON.

CONTEST WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED NOV. 13!

Sean Beighton (above) is careful not

to mess with Dave’s perfect curling

ice.

Tyler George in the media limelight

with Kyle Jahns (top, right).

There is no doubt that all of this

week’s competitors want to be on

Team USA in Sochi. Friendships

amongst the teams is a true quality

of curling as shown here with Brady

Clark (left, skip of Team Clark) and

Rich Ruohonen (second for Team

George).

Hair care: We all need a little

help sometime, Phil.

Team Shuster (above) is 3-0 so far this week.

Team Fenson improved to 2-1 with an extra-end win

Monday night over Team McCormick.

Page 2 The Daily Pebble, Volume 1, Issue 2 Page 3 The Daily Pebble, Volume 1, Issue 2

Daily Pebble: Terry Kolesar, Editor

Rich Harmer,

Photography

Editorial assistants:

Kyle Jahns, Amelia

Young, Kellie Krake

Rick Patzke,

Assistant Editor

The Daily Pebble can be

found online as well: www.usacurl.org

Ideas? Send an e-mail to

Terry Kolesar at terry.kolesar@usacurl.org

By Kyle Jahns, Daily Pebble Contributing Writer

H ave you ever imagined what the Coen brothers’

film Fargo would have been like if the plot cen-

tered on curling tickets? Matt Gamboa gives you

a pretty good idea of that in his winning Fargo FANdango

entry.

Gamboa has been awarded a prize that includes a free round

-trip flight to Minneapolis, VIP seating for himself and a

guest, opportunity to call an end on the live webstream, and

a meet-and-greet with the curlers at the Trials.

Gamboa has never seen curling in an arena before and can’t

wait to see America’s best curlers compete for an opportu-

nity to represent the United States at the 2014 Olympics.

"That's the number one draw to me, being able to see some

really good, high-stakes curling,” Gamboa said.

While curling will be his top priority, USA Curling has

jammed packed Gamboa’s schedule with all sorts of Fargo-

esque experiences which includes a tour of the Fargo Brew-

ing Company, a personal tour of the city and even a photo

opportunity with the famed woodchipper from the movie

Fargo. It will be a completely new experience as Gamboa

has never been to the city before.

"It's going to be interesting to get to see that up close and

see a place that I may never have visited otherwise in that

kind of detail,” he said. "It's kind of exciting to watch really

good curling and get to see what the town is all about."

But, Gamboa wasn’t sure if he was going to be named curl-

ing’s most creative fan. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he

was going to enter USA Curling’s Fargo FANdango contest.

When the contest was announced Gamboa was planning a

move to Scotland with his wife and didn’t know if he would

even be in the country during the event. Gamboa received

his class schedule and, as luck would have it, he would be

able to potentially make the trip.

That was about a week before the deadline, and Gamboa

had no idea what he was going to submit. A day before the

deadline he

decided to

combine one

of his favorite

movies with

his favorite

sport.

Gamboa is

working on his

master’s de-

gree in city

planning and

real estate

development

in Scotland.

The move

overseas made

sense to Gamboa and his wife. They were looking for a new

adventure, and it was cheaper for Gamboa to attend school

over there. However, when deciding where they would

move, they had specific criteria.

"When I was exploring options, I said 'What's the farthest

away I could go, where they still speak English, and there's

curling,’" Gamboa said.

Before the move, Gamboa was living in North Hollywood,

Calif., and curled out of Hollywood Curling. What’s been

most interesting to Gamboa is curling’s rise in popularity,

specifically during Olympic years. Gamboa became inter-

ested in the sport during an Olympic year and he’s excited

to watch the sport grow in coverage.

"I think like most people when it's around the Olympics you

just kind of gravitate towards it because it's not the normal

thing seen,” Gamboa said of the sport. “In 2002 and 2006 it

was on, but I watched the Olympics mostly for ice hockey.

And then you get drawn into some of these other sports."

In 2008 a friend convinced Gamboa and his wife to try to

sport. Soon enough, he was heavily involved in Hollywood

Matt & Jen Gamboa won USA Curling’s

#FANdango contest and will arrive in Fargo

on Wednesday night.

Fargo invasion

Curling and has introduced the sport to oth-

ers in the area. He’s even taught some of the

writers of The Simpsons about the sport while

they were writing a curling themed episode.

"There were so many people coming through

and we were able to teach them and show

them this game. Not one person who came in

to learn had a bad time. You know, they did-

n't always come back, but they usually en-

joyed it and they had maybe a better appre-

ciation for it when they watched it," Gamboa

said.

Gamboa doesn’t feel safe putting money

down on who will be heading to Sochi, Russia

for the Olympics.

“I can't pick the men’s side. I think anyone

can win, it feels so evenly matched you can

make a case for each of the five teams,”

Gamboa said. “The women's side is similar,

but I think you can look at either (Erika)

Brown or (Allison) Pottinger to come out

based on their recent strong play.”

Tweet of the Day (Part I and II): Head to the host

hotel for live bands

post-game

Join us at the Holiday Inn each

night of the 2014 Olympic

Team Trials for Curling for an

after party in the Spirits

Lounge. Live music will be

available Thursday, Friday and

Saturday.

Legends Night on tap Wednesday

Join us on Wednesday night to honor all of USA Curling’s Hall of Fame members in a special ceremony. Hall of Fame mem-

bers present will receive a special commemorative pin and be honored on the ice. Members slated to attend include Steve

Brown, George Godfrey, Scott Baird, Bob Fenson, Glenn Gilleshammer and our newest HOF inductees Jon Mielke and Jerome

Larson. Mielke will be formally inducted on Saturday prior to the start of the 2:30 p.m. playoff game. Larson will be inducted

at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Please join us for all three great events honoring those who have helped grow the sport.